Captured
by Lioness0057
Summary: Squal to The Runaway......Ember's story gets even worse as she loses those close to her....


I pushed him off of me and buttoned my tunic back up. He looked at me, obviously confused.

"Ember, what's wrong?" he asked. "Why don't you want to do this? Don't you love me?

"No, I don't!" I yelled. "I don't love you the way that you love me, I love you like an older brother! If you EVER do something like this again, I will rid myself of my title as your Champion and leave!"

"You wouldn't dare, Lady Knight!"

"Oh, dare I would!" I yelled.

Then I stormed out of the room, Mariah and Willow were following close behind me.

"My lady, why did you yell at his majesty like that?" Mariah asked. "Aren't you afraid of what he could do to you?"

I stopped and turned to face Mariah.

"He won't do anything to me." I replied. "He 'loves' me to much."

Mariah didn't say anything, we continued walking until we got to the stables. We saddled Midnight and snow and went for a ride in the forest. We were a few miles away from the palace when a herd of basilisks jumped into our path. We stopped and began to advance. I jumped off of Midnight and pulled out my sword. The Basilisks didn't care, mortal weapons were no match for them. The one in the very front screeched and Mariah and I covered our ears. If a basilisks screech was heard by a human, the human was turned to stone. When it finished screeching they all jumped forward and attacked Mariah and I. I sliced one through the leg and hit one hard on the collar bone. They fell to the ground as more continued to advance on me.

"My, lady-" Mariah yelled.

I turned around, Mariah had been turned to stone by a basilisk that had been behind her. I turned back to the other basilisks, my emerald green eyes blazing.

"I'll kill you!" I yelled.

I ran at them, throwing blows wherever I could. Once they were all dead, the spell on Mariah wore off. I walked back over to Midnight and Snow. I looked up at Mariah.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

She nodded. Suddenly her eyes got very wide.

"My lady, behind you!" she yelled.

I turned around to see another basilisk standing behind me, a sword was in his hand. He sliced it across my stomach and I fell to the ground. Then my world went black. The last thing that I heard was: "Stupid mortal, they never learn that we can't be defeated." and "My lady, help! Put me down, you monster!"

I woke up to find myself in my chambers with King Raoul and Leon sitting on either side of my bed. I tried to sit up, but a sharp pain in my stomach stopped me. Then I remembered what had happened.

"Where's Mariah?" I asked looking around and finding no sign of my servant.

"The basilisks got her, Lady Ember." Leon said.

I looked over at King Raoul, his back was to me and he was looking out the window.

"Aren't you going to say anything, my lord?" I asked.

"I'm sorry." he replied. "I never meant for you to be angry with me, I just wanted to express my love for you. Look where it got me, my own Champion threatening to rid herself of her title because of something that I did."

I didn't say anything, I wasn't going to apologize for my behavior, he deserved what I had said to him. Then King Raoul left the room, Leon stayed with me. Willow jumped on the bed beside me.

_"I've never liked that King." she said._

I laughed and pet her head with my right hand.

"What are you laughing about?" Leon asked. "What did Willow say this time?"

"She said that she never liked the King." I replied.

Leon laughed and patted my shoulder. Then he got up and left the room.

_"Are you going to find Mariah?" Willow asked._

I looked down at her.

"Of course I am." I replied. "But right now, I can't do much of anything with this wound."__

_"Can't you heal, Ember?"_

"I can only heal others, not myself. I need one of the other palace healers to do this." I said.

Willow began to purr as I continued to pet her. Then Howard, who was a knight and a healer, came into my room. There had been 5 other boys who had started as a page the same year as I had, they were: Adam of Doveclover, Brian of Covegrade, Keith of Summerfalls, Owen of Fallingpine, and Terence of Summerglow. They all had magic too. Adam could heal, Brian had animal magic, Keith had the human gift, Owen could heal, and Terence had the human gift. I possessed all of these types of magic, I was the most powerful Mage in the whole realm of Analayah. Adam came over and sat next to my bed, in the place where Leon had been sitting.

"I hear that you need a healing." he said.

"Yeah, I do." I replied. "I have to find Mariah."

Adam nodded and put his hand over my stomach, where the wound was. Purple fire flowed from his hands and into the wound, it was healed. I thanked him and he left the room. Then I stood up and walked out to the stables. I saddled Midnight and rode into the forest, I was determined to find out where Mariah was being held captive. I rode past the cabin and past where Mariah and I had traveled before, I knew the basilisks were clever, they would have their hideout deep in the forest where it was very hard to find. I continued riding until I reached a clearing, where I stopped to let Midnight rest for a little while. After about fifteen minutes of rest, we continued on our journey. After an hour more of riding, we were ambushed by a herd of griffins. They walked closer and jumped on Midnight, I jumped out of the way, but they weren't after me just yet. Once they were finished with Midnight, they turned to me. I looked over at Midnight's body, she was dead. My eyes stung with tears as I turned back to the griffins. They lunged at me, I pulled out my sword and began attacking them. They were too strong, they knocked my sword away from my hand and stood in front of me, ready to lunge once more. Suddenly, they were surrounded by green magic, Adam's magic, and thrown off into the horizon. I looked over to see Adam, Brian, Keith, Owen, and Terence standing there. I fell to my knees, sobbing. First I lost my servant and now I lost my horse. Brian walked over and helped me to my feet.

"Come on." he said. "Let's get you home."

I nodded and they took me home. I rode on the back of Brian's horse, Thunder, with him. We got back to the palace and the halls were completely deserted.

"Where is everybody?" I asked, looking up at Brian.

"They have all gone to bed, Ember." he replied. "It's one O'clock in the morning."

"Oh." I said.

Then Brian took me to my chambers and then went to his own. I changed into my night gown and got into bed. Without Mariah there, it was lonely. Then I drifted off into sleep.


End file.
